Fluid-pressure door-operating device.



v A. GOTTSCHALK;

FLUID PRESSURE DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20- I911.

A. GOTTSCHALK.

FLUID PRESSURE, DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20. 19H.

Patented Apr. 6, 1915,

F q 3 4 SHBETSSHEET 2 JNVEN/TOR %7z7 WITNESSES A. GOTTSCHALK.

FLUID PRESSURE DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED J LY 20, 1911.

1 ,1?,4, 6(,)8,, Patented Apr. 6, 191.5.

WITN ESSE(S@ I INVENTOR jOC/WM W12.

awsarr-sorrsonam or ,NEW' OBK, n. Y. sssxc on r NATIONAL PNEUMM erum. or.cmoeco, ILLINOIS, A conrqmflon or wEs'r vmsmm- FLUID-PRESSUREnoon-ornna'rnve nnvion.

Specification of Letters iPatent.

Paten ed a m is- Application filed rulytao, 191,1. erla1TNO-.6 39,61 1.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I,

I a citizen of the United fitates, residing at lowing is aspecification.

vThis invention relates to fluid pressure devices for operating doors ofcars, elevators and the like, and is more particularly in the nature ofan improvement on the apparatus shown and described in my prior-pend ngapplications Ser. N 0. 519,432, September 24, 1

190.9, and Ser. No. 593,082, filed November 1 10- i I 4 As .set forth inthe earlier application above noted, when the door is arrested duringits closing movement by striking a person .or other obstruction in itspath, the pressure which accumulates in the main cylinder operates toopen a spring seated valve, and pass into a valve shifting cylinder toclose the main valve and cut off the supply of fluid to the maincylinder, and open an exhaust to the atmosphere. One of the objects ofmy present improvement is to provide means for this purpose separatefrom the main supply valve and .so designed as to operate automaticallyto temporar-ily close and then again ,open'the supply so that the doormay he actuated to close as soon as theperson or obstruction is removedand this without any special attention on the part of the guard oroperator.

Where a fluid pressure latch device is employed for locking the dooractuating lever units closed position, as set forth in my sec.-

0nd pending application it is sometimes d fficult to release the latchautomatically if I there is a: heavy pressure acting on the main pistonto open the door, and another object ofmy present improvement is toprovide means for. releasing the latch before admitting fluid tothecylinder of the door actuate mg piston.

Still another object is to provide the valve mechanism with separatesets of ports, of different capacities, whereby the desired cushioningeffect may be obtained and the door may be moved more rapidly in itsopening movement than in its closing movement, and further that intheintermediate or lap position in which the admission ports re-closhere may be a free exhau f m ALBERT Gozmsonamg,

L either .or both .ends of the cylinder :to @permit ,of a quick reversalor a manual movement of the door, and also provide an escape for allleakage which might accumulate pressure in the cylinder.

Still another object to provide improved means attached to the door topositively check the movement when the door strikes a person or .objectduring its closing movement. These and other objects will now more fullyappear from the following description, and the novel features will bepointed .out in the 1 claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a plan of a .door operatingdevice, portions being broken away, and showing certain features of anyimprovement in horizontal-section; vFig. 2, a side elevation, with thevalve shifting cylinder and a portion of the main --cy1inder indicatedin vertical section; Fig. 3', a su-bstantiagllycentral trans versevertical section; Fig. .4, a section taken susbtantially on an inclinedplane indicated by line w wof Fig. 2; Fig. ,5, a face of the mainvalveseat; Fig 6, ,a part eleiat on an p rt se n o s F g- :7, a faceviewof the r otary valve Fig. :8, a section of the ,same;. Fig. .9, aview of a door with my improvemen app thereto; lg 1156: l

,13 d ta l vi a o ne o the door upon a larger scale, and showing myimroved attachment and, Figs l l and 12, a

ongitud-inal section, and a horizontal sec.- tion respectively, showinga slightly modified form of door operating-device.

tion above referred to, the device in general comprises a long cylinderwith a double be connected to move the door in any desired manner.

lk valve is employed for controlling the supply of fluid-to therespective ends of the cylinder for opening and closing the door,

and while any suitable orpreferred. form of valve may be used in anyconvenient location, I have illustrated a valve 15 of the -rotary typelocated on a seat 16 which may Theformed either separate from orintegral with the cylinder casing. and frame to which-fa I cap section17 covering the valve andfcham;

he my b s c red. 0. the al estsm i 89 I 2 Asset forth in my priorpending applical- I Q msaeoe outside the casing is mounted a lever arm19 to the ends of which may be attached pull rods or any suitable formof mechanical or electrical connections extending within the reach ofthe operator who is to control the operation of the door. A supply pipe20 leading from a source of fluid pressure,such as a reservoir ofcompressed air communicates through port 21 in valve seat and port 22 invalve 15 with the valve chamber, the port 22, having an extension orcavity 23 in the face of the valve so that the compressed air or otherfluid is admitted to the valve chamber in all the positions of thevalve. Ports '24 and 25 may lead from the valve seat to the oppositeends of actuating cylinder 8 for admitting fluid under pressure to openand close the door.

When the valve is in its normal or lap position, with the handle orlever 19 horizontal, as indicated in Fig. 2, the supply of fluid toeither end of the operating cylinder is cut off, the ports 24 and 25being closed. The valve lever is oscillated in one direction foradmitting fluid under pressure to the left end of cylinder 8 for movingthe piston to open the door, and the lever is turned in the oppositedirection from its normal or lap position for admitting fluid to theright end of the cylinder for closing the door.

In order that the valve may normally occupy its lap position with thesupply to either end of the cylinder cut ofl' when the door is in eitherits open or closed position, and thereby prevent leakage, I providemeans controlled by the movement of the motor piston or door to eitherend of its stroke for automatically shifting the valve to lap positionand thereby. out ofl the supply of fluid to the cylinder. Various formsof mechanism for this purpose may be devised, that shown hereincomprising a valve shifting motor having cylinder 30 communicating byports with the door actuating cylinder, and containing a double pistonwith opposite heads 33 connected by rack bar 34 which engages teeth ontheoscillating sleeve 35 mounted on the valve casing and provided with aprojection 36 adapted to engage the 'valve lever and shift the same toits horizontal position.

According to one of the features of my present improvement the valveseat 16 is' so located that the large ports 24* and 29,

and 25 and 29 respectively, are connected in the normal lap position ofthe rotary valve. This permits the free escape of fluid from either orboth ends of the cylinder in this position of the valve so as to allow aprompt reverse movement of the door whenever desired and to prevent theaccumulation of pressure in the cylinder from leakage or any othercause. It also provides for a free manual movement of the door from itsopen position when the valve is in this position. When the valve isturned in either direction for admitting fluid to actuate the piston therestricted admission port 24 or 25 isopened and the correspondinglyrestricted exhaust port 29 or 29 is put in communication through cavity28 or 28 with the port 25 or 24" from the other end of the cylinderrespectively so that the proper rate of admis sion and the desiredcushioning eflect is obtained. In this manner, the exhaust may berestricted at one time for cushioning the movement of the door and befully open at another time to allow a free movement thereof, and providean escape for all leakage. The inlet port 25 and exhaust port 29Whichare open in the position of the valve for closing the door may alsobe of a smaller capacity than the admission and exhaust ports for theother end of the cylinder, whereby the door may be moved more rapidlyinits opening movement than in its closing movement.

For locking the mechanism in the closed position of the door, the latchor looking lever 53 is pivoted upon the casing and is held by spring 54in such position as to normally engage the operating arm 14, and lockthe same in the closed position of the door, as shown in Fig. 2, thelatch being releasedby the stem 52 of theplunger or piston 51 operatingin cylinder 50, as described in my second e o-pending application abovereferred to. According to my present improvement, the passage 24", fromadmission port 24 of the main valve seat leads first into cylinder 50where the air pressure moves the piston 51 thereby releasing the latchand opening the passage 24 leading into the end of the main cylinder. Inthis manner the latch is released before the fluid enters the maincylinder and before any pressure is exerted on the main piston tendingto open the door. As long as the pres sure acting on piston 51 issufficient to overcome the spring 54 the passages 24 and 24 are in freeopen communication with each other but "when the pressure is diminishedto such a point that the spring 54 returns the piston 51 and cuts offthe port 24, any fluid under pressure remaining in the main cylinder mayescape through a groove 51 and port 51 in piston 51. The main exhaustmay, however, discharge through ports 37 and 38 "controlled by the valveshift piston are arrested during the opening movement. Such means maycomprise a cylinder 61 having piston 62 for operating valves 63 and64,'which control communication from the admission port of themainvalve, passages 70, 69,'and chamber 67 into chamber 63 and throughport ,7 2 into the main cylinder 8, also from said cylinder and chamberto the atmosphere through exhaust port 65. A spring 63 with stem 66, maybe used, if desired, and normally tends to keep the admission valve 63open and the exhaust valve 64 closed. I

The pressure valve device adapted to be actuated by the'pressureaccumulating in the end of the cylinder when'the door is arrested in itsclosing movement, is similar to that described inmy prior applicationand comprises a valve 40, piston 41, and spring 42, connected to thecylinder by a port 39, but the pipe 60 leads to the cylinder 61 ofpiston 62 instead of to thelvalve shifting cylinder, as in said priorapplication. A check valve 71 may be located in the passage or pipe 60.When the pressure on. the main cylinder 8, accumulates to a sufiicientpoint to open valve 40, the increased area presented by piston 41 causessame to immediately move out against the spring 42 and open the portleading to pipe 60 and cylinder 61 thereby forcing up piston 62 to closeadmission valve 63 and open exhaust valve 64. This serves to temporarily'cut off the supply of fluid to the main cylinder and exhausts the samepromptly to atmosphere. Then as soon as the pressure in cylinder 61 issufliciently reduced by leakage past check valve 71 and out at port 43or around piston 62, the spring I 68, and the fluid pressure act toagain open valve 63 and close valve 64. The fluid pressure also normallytends to hold this exhaust valve 64 closed. The time required for the.pressure on piston 62 to leak down is determined by the volume ofcylinder 61 and pipe 60, and by the rate of leaka e, either or bothofwhich may be varied as esired. When the valve 63 is thus again opened,the fluid pressure is again admitted to the main cylinder to close thedoor but 1f the door is still obstructed the operation of thevalvedevice is. repeated, and'when the obstruction is removed the door isautomati cally closed by the fluid pressure as above valve, and may beapplied to various forms of door operating devices, as shown forinstance in Figs. 11 and 12, in which it is applied to a simple form ofmotor having a hand operated valve 73, for opening and closing theadmission and exhaust passages for the respective ends of the maincylindein, When the door is stopped during the closing movement, theincreasing pressure opens valve 40 and actuates piston 62 to move thevalves 63 and 64, as before described, to out OK the supply of fluid. tothe cylinder and open the exhaust therefrom. As the fluid is thusreleased promptly from the cylinder, the door may be readily pushed backto open position, if desired.

For the purpose of positively checking the door when the same strikesagainst a 7 be located near the top of the door, asin-.

dicated at.80, and, if desired, may be provided with teeth for engaginga pawl 78 pivoted on the strip 75. The strip may be supported bypivoted'links 76, and normally heldforward by means of a spring 77.

When the strip swings upward, .upon striking against a person or ob ect,thepawl engagesrthe teeth of fixed bar 80, and immediately stops themovement of the door. The pawl may rest against a stop 79 to preventturning in one direction, but is free to swing in the other direction sothat the door may be readily pushed back toward the open position, asthe fluid pressure is automatically cut off and exhausted tothe-atmosphere.

Having now described my invention, what -I claim as new, and desire tosecure-by Letters Patent, is:

f 1. In a door operating apparatus, the combination with a fluidpressure motor for matically upon the arrest of the door during itsclosing movement, to cut off the supply of fluid to the motor, andexhaust the fluid therefrom.

3. In a door operating apparatus, the combination With a fluid pressuremotor for actuating the door and a main valve for controlling the supplyof fluid to the motor, of a separate valve device operated by theincreasing pressure in the main cylinder when the door is arrestedduring .its closing movement,to cut off the supply of fluid to themotor.

4. In a door operating apparatus, the combination with a fluid pressuremotor for actuating the door, of a valve device operated by apredetermined degree of pressure in the main motor to temporarily closethe supply to and open an exhaust from the said motor.

Ina door operating apparatus, the com-' bination With a fluid pressuremotor for actuating the door, of a valve device operated by apredeterminedv degree of pressure in the motor to temporarily cut offthe supply of fluid and then automatically open the supply.

6. In a door operating apparatus, the combination of a fluid pressuremotor for actuating the door, a main valve for controlling the supply offluid thereto, another valve for also controlling the supply of fluid, apiston for actuating the latter valve, and a 1,134.,eoe

pressurevalve governed by the pressure in the main motor to control thepressure acting on said piston.

7. A oardoor having a yielding strip attached to the edge thereof andadapted to be deflected against a stationary part for checking themovement of the door.

8. In a. car door device, the combination with the'door, of a yieldingstrip pivotally connected to the front edge of said door, and astationary bar adapted to be engaged by the strip when the same strikesagainst a person or object during the closing movement of the door.

9. In a car door device, the combination with the door, of a yieldingstrip pivotally connected to the front edge of said door, a

ALBERT GO'I'ISCIIALK.

Witnesses A, S. FOWLER, JAMns lVI. HAGAR.

